


Peaceful half-life in the countryside

by Metalsappho



Series: Metall/u/rgy [26]
Category: Metall/u/rgy
Genre: Family Reunion, Gen, Gynoid, country life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6703093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalsappho/pseuds/Metalsappho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thallium's visits her mother Radon for the first time since she left her to go to the city, feeling guilty, but missing her.</p><p>(Place in the timeline: about two years ago)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peaceful half-life in the countryside

Thallium was nervous. She was trying to forget her uneasiness by looking out of the car's window, but not even the beautiful green view of the countryside could put her mind at ease. It was quite understandable; it has been several months that she had left home, and in that time, she had barely kept in touch with her mother Radon. She obviously felt guilty from this, but wouldn't be that bad if this was the only thing she felt bad about; the real thing that haunted her is the fact that she had left in the first place. It had been on a whim, and during that whim, she completely forgot that she was leaving behind her mother who has a very frail constitution and had to move to the countryside because of that. Her mother needed care and attention, and instead of giving it, Thallium bailed out on her. Sure it's wasn't out of spite, but doing it out of obliviousness for her mother is not exactly something to brag about either. At the time, she was just a kid dreaming of the city, and when Potassium appeared with that independent and confrontational spirit, Thallium wanted to follow her example, a bit blindly as it turned out. Things weren't helped by the fact Radon didn’t oppose it; she even arranged for Thallium to stay with her aunt Polonium, but now, the implications of what Thallium did were really weigthing on her conscience. She treated her mother badly, and the more she thought about it, the guiltier she felt and she started to well up.

"It going to be okay." said Polonium, for the seventeenth time since they set off.

"Will it?" said Thallium while sniffing.

"It will, you know Radon; she believes in living the moment, there's no way she would be mad at you."

"Well, she would have every right to, even I can barely look at myself in the mirror!"

"I understand what you’re feeling, Thal, but you should just wait and see; running around in circles is not going to help you."

"But how will I be able to face her? I just want to run away from here."

"Good thing that the doors are locked then, should I hold you when we arrive?"

Thallium laughed nervously “Very funny auntie.”

“Being serious, though, it’s going to be okay.”

“But I left her alone!”

“She’s not alone, though.”

“But she-wait, really?”

“Yup she’s in the care of someone, although I haven’t been able to check on her recently, so I’m going to met this person with you when we'll arrive.”

Thallium fell silent, 'in the care of someone' she said? Who could that someone be? Thallium felt a reflexive pang of possessiveness that she immediately forced away, too aware that she's certainly not in a position to be possessive of her mother. Still, though, who could that 'help' be? She knows everyone in the area, and people never come here to live. Sure, there was Potassium, but that girl is in a league of her own and can hardly be taken as a representative example of...anything, really. She'll know soon enough as she recognized the area surrounding her house...well, it was still about 10 kilometers away, but the concept of 'near' is quite stretched in the countryside.

Upon arrival, Thallium got caught up in a wave of nostalgia. She didn’t realize it back then, but the place is absolutely beautiful. Green was everywhere and a forest with tall trees faced the property from the other side of the narrow road. The house itself was still about 50 meters from the road, so Polonium carefully lead her car down the short trail leading to it. When the house came into sight, the nostalgia completely took over Thallium. Everything was like she remembered, but she was now seeing it in a different light; whether it was the adorable house made of old stones, the countless small tiles on its roof, or the comically old-fashioned car parked near it with its weird protruding headlamps. Thallium wasn’t particularly fond of this old thing; she preferred Polonium’s modern car by far, but in the wave of nostalgia she was riding, she found it charming. As Polonium 'parked' her own car - more like just stopped it wherever - Thallium got out and paced around, filling herself with the countless sights around her: the trees, the flowers, the house, the small river running near it, her dashing and…well-endowed aunt taking out their bags from the boot. 

Her eyes stopped on her aunt and for a moment, she couldn't look away. It wasn’t the first time she took a good look at her aunt; but in this lovely natural background, with a soft breeze gently moving her long feathered hair, she was absolutely magnificent. Thallium felt some heat going up her cheeks and when her eyes stayed on Polonium’s sizeable chest, she felt the temperature rising between her legs as well. It hasn’t been long since she had started to look at Polonium as something more than an aunt, but she’s still not really sure of what to do with these feelings and these…urges.

She pulled out of her reverie when she noticed Polonium looking at her; she immediately looked away and took a sudden interest in a nearby bed of colourful flowers. After letting her mind cool down, she paced around some more and went to the backyard to look for her mother. She was greeted there by the back of a tall woman, curiously dressed in a bright red hakama, while the upper-body seemed to be covered by a kimono jacket. Thallium wasn’t sure as the person had very long jet black hair obscuring most of the upper-body, with a gigantic red ribbon at the back of her head. _Must be the person auntie was talking about_ thought Thallium _strange outfit, she looks like she just came out of that video game I used to play_. Thallium approached the girl who was sweeping dead leaves, half-expecting to see a tall version of Sodium, but when said girl turned to face her, Thallium was so shocked she fell on the ground.

She looked up to the 'girl' and couldn’t believe her eyes; the “girl” had skin as white as milk, but the most shocking things were the red eyes…all three of them. Thallium couldn’t formulate a coherent thought, let alone a coherent sentence, so she just stayed on the ground, gaping and unable to take off her eyes from the 'girl'’s third eye, vertically placed in the middle of the forehead. Thallium’s mind continued to blank out as the 'girl' walked over to her and kneeled down.

“Hello, you must be Miss Thallium if I’m not mistaken.” said the 'girl'.

The mention of her name seemed to wake Thallium up “I…you know who I am?”

“Yes, you’re Radon’s daughter; pictures of you are everywhere in the house and Radon speaks often of you.”

“She…wait who are you?”

“My name is Nobelium; I am Mrs. Radon’s life assistant.”

“No, I mean, what _are_ you?”

“Oh, my apologies, I assumed you knew that; I am a JINR series II, most commonly known as ‘gynoid’.”

“G-gynoid?”

“Yes, or, if you prefer, a robot designed to look like a woman.”

Thallium could barely believe it “What? You’re a robot girl? How’s that poss-“ Thallium was cut off as someone suddenly hugged her from behind.

“There, there, sweetie, you’ll know all about it soon enough." said a soft voice in her hear.

Thallium immediately recognized it and tears of emotion began to roll from her eyes.

“M-mom!”

* * *

Thallium, Radon and Polonium were comfortably settled in the living room, while Nobelium was doing some cleaning nearby. Thallium had calmed down from the emotional ride she just went through; after going through dread, excitment, arousal and shock, she was taking it easy on the couch, in the embrace of her mother and with the reliable support of some lavender tea. As Radon and Polonium were chatting, Thallium alternated between listening to them and observing Nobelium.

Radon and Polonium had explained to her that Nobelium had been built by their childhood friend, a woman named Uranium, and that her role was to assist Radon in her everyday life. It might make perfect sense for them, but for Thallium it was still barely believable, and she had to keep looking at the gynoid to not dismiss her existence as impossible.

When Thallium wasn’t eyeing Nobelium, she took comfort in the fragile embrace of her mother. Radon is very frail and short and looks like she's vanishing from existence; her skin is very pale and her short messy hair is very light, almost translucent. Her eyes are almost colourless, with some traces of green, and the bags under them visually age her significantly. Even the way she spoke made one worry she’s going to disappear in the next minute; she has a slow diction and a very soft and low voice that's barely more than a whisper. It was almost unbelievable that she was the sister of the tall and tough Polonium, but her very weak condition really took a toll on her.

Despite looking like she’d break if she were to fall on the floor, Radon was beaming with happiness.

“I’m so glad to have you both here.” she said. 

“We’re very happy to see you as well, sis.” replied Polonium, who was sitting on the armchair “You know Thallium was very worried about you.” 

Thallium blushed at that.

“Why, thank you sweetie" said Radon while gently caressing her daughter’s hair “but worry not, I’m in the caring hands of Nobelium, she’s wonderful.”

“Even though Ura filled me in about her, I never had the opportunity of seeing her in person, so I was quite curious.”

“I know you have a lot of responsibilities, sis, don’t worry.”

“How does she work?” interrupted Thallium.

“Well, I certainly don’t understand the details myself, but you should know that she’s very intelligent and can learn things brilliantly.”

Thallium nodded thoughtfully, she still had trouble wrapping her head around that.

“She’s quite interested in you, actually.” Radon added.

Thallium’s face immediately became as red as a tomato “W-what?”

“No, not that way, silly, interested as in curious; she would often ask about you, and religiously respects your belongings.”

“That’s quite peculiar.” observed Polonium.

“Uranium told me that while the gynoids have the apparent poise and maturity of an adult, their curiosity and desire to learn is much more like a child’s.” said Radon

“They’re quite interesting.” said Thallium.

“Say, Thal, why don’t you hang out with her for a bit? You’ll be seeing by yourself how she is and she’d be incredibly happy to pass some time with you, too.”

“You…you’re sure?”

“Absolutely.” said Radon with a bright smile.

Thallium hesitated for a bit but eventually nodded silently. Radon called Nobelium over and asked her to show Thallium around. This was just an excuse, as Thallium grew up in this place, but nobody questioned it.

Thallium and Nobelium got outside and started to walk down a picturesque trail that winded between groves and meadows. They both stayed silent for a while, which on Thallium part was mainly because she was taking some time to admire the landscapes that housed her childhood. She figured she should be the one to start talking though, but she had so many questions that she didn’t know where to begin. Actually she kind of wanted to begin by that third eye she kept looking at, but fortunately for her, the gynoid had noticed her insistent stare

“Miss Thallium, you seem very curious about my eyes.”

Suddenly self-conscious, Thallium quickly diverted her own “Oh, sorry, I shouldn't stare at you like that."

“I don’t mind, you can ask me questions if you want.”

“Okay, so… What is this middle eye for?”

“It houses a lidar; my other two eyes have cameras but cameras don’t help me with depth perception, so that’s what the lidar is for, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to function”. Thallium then asked what a lidar was, and after a short explanation, silence resumed. The gynoid seemed easy-going enough, so Thallium went to address the elephant in the room.

“So, you’re really sentient?”

“Yes.”

“I have to admit I don’t really know what sentience actually entails.”

“The accepted definition is that sentience is the ability to feel, but I believe my creators use it in a more specific way, as a shorthand for “having a personality”, although one must be able to feel in order to have a personality.”

“I…guess?”

“Nobody gave me a definition of what 'personality' is; my creators said that I must search for the answer by myself, so I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that a personality is what differentiates people from each other, and that a personality is moulded by memories and experiences. However all of this is tied with the ability to feel, whether it’s good, or bad. Since I’m new to this world, I don’t really have a much defined personality, although Dr. Uranium said that this will change with time.

“Really?”

“Yes, she said that even the earlier gynoids that have a much simpler sentience have developed some form of personality over the years, and since my series is more capable, we should be able to develop a much deeper personality and with more variance.”

“Wow, that sounds impressive.”

“I’m not well-placed to make that judgement, but I take your word for it, Miss Thallium.”

After a beat, Thallium said “So, you’ve been built to assist mom?”

“Yes.”

“And…that’s it?”

“…what do you mean?”

“Like, are you content to only do what you’ve been built for?”

“Well…yes, is that bad?”

“I’m not saying it’s bad, I was just wondering if there wasn’t anything else you wanted to do.”

“All I want is to assist Mrs. Radon.”

“Really? Don’t you want to go beyond what you’ve been destined for?”

“Why would I? I’ve been programmed to assist Mrs. Radon.”

“So you don’t have free will?”

“I do have free will; I could leave if I wanted, but what for? I am deeply attached to Mrs. Radon, and helping her already makes me incredibly happy. I just want to have a place in the world, to have a purpose, and I feel my purpose is here.”

“Fair enough, Nobelium, I guess I listen too much to Potassium.”

“Potassium?”

“A friend of mine, with a fiercely independent spirit, who always did the opposite of what her mother told her.”

“She sounds troublesome.”

“Not really, she just wants to do her thing without people interfering…and she rubbed off on me.”

After a beat, Nobelium said “Is that…why you left?”

Thallium shuddered at that reminder, but she brought it onto herself “Yes…”

“Were you not satisfied here?”

“Not really, this place might be beautiful, but there’s a only finite amount of things to do, and not that big of an amount. It’s great if you find something that you want to do, like Potassium did...or hey even you, but for me, it was limiting, so I went to a place where I could do what I really wanted.”

“What do you really want?...um, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Thallium smiled reassuringly “Of course you can ask Nobelium. As for your question, I’m not really sure myself; I’m good with chemicals and I got into making homebrew poisons...”

“Poisons?”

“Yeah! Wait, it’s not for poisoning people, it’s for pest control, insecticides, fungicides, weed killer, those kind of things.”

“Oh, right.”

“For now, it’s my plan to follow that route, and for that the city is ideal.”

There was silence for a few minutes until Nobelium asked “Don’t you miss Mrs. Radon?”

The sudden pang of guilt startled Thallium, and she looked away before replying.

“I…I do, a lot, actually , I feel bad about leaving her alone…I wonder if she wants me to stay here…I wouldn’t know what to do in that case.”

“Mrs. Radon really misses you, Miss Thallium, but she wants to see you happy, even if it means you leaving her.”

“I’m…not sure about that.”

“That’s what she told me.”

“Really?” 

“Yes, she said that she had no choice to grow up in a hospital, so she wants you to live your choices to the fullest.”

Thallium staying thoughtful for a while “Thank you Nobelium”

“I am just repeating, I think you should talk to her.”

“I should indeed, should we head back?”

“Yes, I need to prepare dinner.”

They made their way back without a word, but the silence was a comfortable one. When the house was in sight, Thallium asked:

“There’s one last thing that bugs me, though.”

“What is it?”

Thallium looked at the gynoid from head to toe “Why this outfit?”

“It has been chosen by both Dr. Uranium and Mrs. Radon, it refers to a character from a video game that they both played in their childhood.”

“Really? That’s a bit random…”

“Mrs. Radon was always hospitalized, so Dr. Uranium offered her a computer so she could pass her time. Mrs. Radon still plays it, by the way.”

“Wait, it’s _that_ computer? I thought that old thing had bit the dust ages ago.”

“I’ve repaired it, actually, and I’ve been playing that game with Mrs. Radon regularly.”

Thallium stayed speechless; the mental image of her frail mother playing retro bullet hell games with a robot girl cosplaying as the main character was a very strange one.

It was kind of cute, though.

* * *

While Thallium and Nobelium were out, Polonium and Radon kept on chatting. Polonium really missed these time outs with her little sister, but adult life has the annoying habit of getting in the way of a lot of things. Polonium went from the armchair to the couch, and soon she found herself with Radon in her arms, the back of her sister’s head comfortably resting on her opulent bosom. It was as if they were back to being kids and Polonium would read stories to Radon.

Only they were now both approaching their forties and the stories they tell are the ones they witness.

“You know Ura finally found someone?” said Polonium

“No way! About time!” replied happily Radon.

“Yes, I was starting to worry about her, but she got herself a nice person to share her life with.”

“Who is it?”

“She’s called Molybdenum.”

“I feel I’ve heard this name already.” said Radon pensively.

“Does ‘Technetium’ ring a bell?”

“Yes, it was the girl implanted with artificial limbs by Ura, right?”

“Exactly, well Molybdenum is her mother.”

Radon took a few moments time to let it sink in “Wow, Ura is a sly one, isn’t she.”

“She is, I didn’t have the time to meet her new family, though, but I kind of want them to meet you and Thallium; we’re not really close to Ura’s friends, but I feel we should get to know her family.”

“You think she’d come all the way here?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I’ll ask Ura.”

They stayed silent for a bit, then Radon talked “And you, Po?”

“Me?”

“Did you find someone?”

Polonium hesitated before replying “No.”

“You really should try, Po, life is passing you by.”

“I’ve kind of put that aside, Rad.”

“Why?”

“I’m busy with work and looking after Thal, I can’t just spare time for dating…not only that; I don’t even want to start dating people, it’s too much trouble for too little satisfaction.”

“Since when did you become this jaded?”

Polonium chuckled “I don’t know, but I already went through all that dating stuff, and it never went very far.”

“That’s because you’re such a workaholic, Po.”

“I won’t argue that, but that’s who I am; I won’t just stop working because of some woman I met at a random bar.”

“I’m not asking you to stop working, just taking things easy.”

“I can’t ‘take it easy’ at my level of responsibility, Rad, I’m sorry, but I’m just too invested in that.”

“No, I should be apologizing, Po” said Radon with a sigh “I know how you value your job, it just…distresses me to see you like that; I want you to be happy.”

Polonium kissed Radon’s head reassuringly “But I am happy, Rad; your health is stable, Nobelium is here to pamper you, and now that Thal is living with me, I am not alone at home.”

“If you say so, Po, but I still believe you need a romantic connection with someone; family can’t just stand in for a proper relationship.”

“Maybe” said Po after a pause “but neither can a hastily chosen bed partner.”

“Well, you do have a point here.” admitted Radon with a sigh “I’m sorry to nag you, Po, but you and Thal are everything I have…”

“Don’t you have Nobelium, too?”

“I do, but Nobelium is already beaming just by taking care of me, so I’m not worried in the slightest about her happiness; it’s your happiness that concerns me.”

“I understand, Rad, but trust me when I tell you not to worry.”

“Alright, big sis.”

“I also have concerns about you, by the way.” said Polonium.

“About my health?”

“Besides your health; I know you want Thal to be happy and all, but what do you really feel about her living away from you?”

Radon stayed silent for a while before answering “I terribly miss her every single day, Po, I won’t lie and say that her absence doesn’t weight on my mind constantly.”

She paused for a bit, Polonium quietly waited for her to continue while stroking her sister's very thin hair.

“But, I'm her mother; I must keep a levelled head and think about her future first and foremost. I didn’t have a future, Po, I just kept bouncing on what was happening to me without any control…I didn’t come here by choice, even if I absolutely love living here; there are only a few things in my life that I did by choice, and the most important one is Thal. I made a conscious choice to have a daughter, it’s then my responsibility to give her opportunities; I want her to be able to do what she wants, to make the choices I wasn’t able to, to live her life like she intends to.”

Radon began sniffling; Polonium comforted her by silently rubbing her shoulders and patting her head.

“I…cried a lot when she left” Radon had tears in her voice “I had to fight the selfish urge of keeping her with me; I had to let her go; I couldn’t have gotten in the way of her life, as much for her than for me.”

Radon sniffled a bit more but quickly calmed down.

“It hurt, quite a lot, but at the same time I had the satisfaction that I was doing the right thing; I knew she would be happier this way. The thought of knowing her in your care also calmed me down a lot; you’ve always been good to her.”

“I do love her” said Polonium “but I often wonder if I’m doing a good job at taking care of her.”

“You are, Po, trust me on that. Thal is an open book when you get to know her; she wouldn’t be in such a good mood if things were going badly. You’re her aunt, she loves you and she’s a big girl that already built her personality; all you need to do is make sure she doesn’t get influenced by shady people and be there when she needs it. I could handle the first part, but not the second one.”

“I trust you, Rad, even if I’m still apprehensive; I too want the best for her, you know?”

“I do, you always took care of us two, Po; you’re the best big sister in the world.” Radon said while snuggling some more in Polonium’s arms.

They chatted some more until Thallium and Nobelium returned from their walk. As Thallium walked in the living room, she stopped, quite surprised to see her mother and her aunt cuddling like two children would

“Mom? Auntie? What are you doing?”

“Reliving the good old days” said Polonium cheerfully.

“Hey, these days are quite pleasant as well” said Radon chirpily “plus I’m more comfortable than I was back then.” she illustrated her words by rubbing the back of her head on Polonium’s bosom.

Thallium had a chuckle, but it soon faded as she was focused about what she had to do.

“Um...mom? Can I have a word with you?”

“Of course sweetie! Come h-” Radon couldn’t finish her sentence as Polonium swiftly grabbed her, placed her against the couch and stood up.

“It’ll be soon time for dinner, and I quite fancy helping out Nobelium” she announced, too quickly to be natural “if you’ll excuse me.”

She walked out of the room, but not without winking at Thallium beforehand.

Thallium sat right next to her mother, gathering her courage. She wasn’t sure herself why she needed so much courage, but she guessed that there was no such thing as too much courage.

“I…" Thallium had trouble finding her words, as she already was making a big effort to keep looking at her mother in the eyes “I…I’m sorry.”

Radon was genuinely surprised “Sorry? Sorry for what, sweetie?”

“Well, for…running away from home.”

“You didn’t run away, you just went to live with your aunt in the city.”

“Yes, but I left you on your own. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that back then; I was too selfish and I didn't consider what you must've been feeling.”

“And that’s a good thing.”

“It-what?”

“Why would you worry about me instead of yourself?”

Thallium was a bit taken aback “Well…because…”

“Because I’m you mother?” Radon gently took her daughter in her arms “Thal, you’re everything to me and I’m very happy that you think about me, but I’m an old broken lady who’s already glad to simply live.”

“But…”

“I know what you must think, sweetie, but really, my real happiness is to see you doing what you want; I want you to promise me you'll do what you want without holding back, okay?”

Thallium hesitated; she was tempted to deny, promise and swear to always put her mother’s well-being as her number one priority starting now. However Radon’s words were echoing in her head, and resonated with the part of her that, indeed, wanted to live her life to the fullest.

Thallium nodded slowly “I…I promise, mom.”

“Good!” said Radon while squeezing Thallium in her weak arms “I’m not asking you to forget about me though, so I hope you’ll come visit me some more!.”

“I will, mom, of course I will! I love you, mom”

“I love you too, sweetie.”


End file.
